WILLS

One of my close friends here on La Marina Urb, lost her husband in December and she is a resident and when she told me how much it cost her to inherit her husbands half of their property etc I was very shocked.

We are married, but not yet residents here, so I contacted our solicitor and when they got back to me with the figures I almost collapsed!!!

We have been advised to change our will, so that either myself and our two children or my hubby and our two children inherit equally and this will save us a fortune.

Our solicitor also told us that if you live together / co-habit as it is called here apparently, but are not married and the man dies, the partner is not entitled to anything. In fact if the man has been married before and has children they are more likely to get the property and assets.

So, I would strongly advise you to contact your solicitor asp.

https://e-justice.europa.eu/content_successions-166-en.do?init=true
Successions
National rules on inheritance vary considerably between Member States (as in who inherits, what the portions and reserved shares are, how wide the testamentary freedom is, how the estate is to be administered, how wide the heirs' liability of debts is, etc.). In cross-border inheritance cases, it is imperative to determine which law applies and which court has jurisdiction to deal with the case.
A major step to facilitate cross border successions was the adoption on 4 July 2012 of new European rules which will make it easier for European citizens to handle the legal side of an international will or succession. These new rules apply to the succession of those who die on or after 17 August 2015.
The Regulation will make sure that a given succession is treated coherently, under a single law and by one single authority. In principle, the last habitual residence of the deceased determines the law applicable to the succession and the competent court, however, citizens can choose whether the law applicable to their succession should be that of their nationality. This avoids parallel proceedings and conflicting judicial decisions and the mutual recognition of decisions relating to succession in the EU is ensured.
Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom do not take part in the Regulation. As a result, succession procedures opened in these three Member States will continue to be dealt with by national rules only.
Matters of inheritance tax law are excluded from the scope of the Regulation.
For further information on the inheritance laws of other Member States, please consult the authorities of your country or those of the country concerned. You can also consult the website http://www.successions-europe.eu/ which is owned by the Council of the Notariats of the European Union.

And for this reason and knowing what I have discovered everyone needs to contact their solicitor.

Yes quite agree Linda. We made our Wills quite a few years ago thinking we had now covered ourselves in the event of either me or Ian passing, but apparently these Wills are no longer covering what we thought. There are so many different Spanish Rules & Regulations that you do not really know about, so we are now waiting for an appointment ASAP with our Solicitor to arrange for us to have a Civil Partnership drawn up.

It is unbelievable how much you can lose if you do not get your Wills sorted out properly, especially regarding Inheritance Tax. So, I would advise everyone, if you haven't already done so, to make sure you are covered properly in the event of your partner or husband's/wife death. After all you are losing the person you live with, so you do not want the worry of maybe losing your home or extortionate bills to pay as well.